If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Wayland Updated With KMS Page-Flipping Ioctl

12-21-2009, 01:30 PM

Phoronix: Wayland Updated With KMS Page-Flipping Ioctl

The Wayland Display Server hasn't received any new commits to its code repository since early October, but now it has received some new work. In particular, Wayland is now able to take advantage of the KMS page-flipping ioctl that was recently pushed into the Linux 2.6.33 kernel. The latest Wayland code now takes advantage of the latest revision to this API and is also now dependent upon libdrm 2.4.17, which was just released this week...

Comment

Can we expect a Qt Wayland backend, or is Cairo the primary (and only) goal for the moment? Given that Qt is fully open source now, some enthusiast could well try and hack up a backend. Or will Qt use Cairo (impossible, IMHO)?

Comment

Can we expect a Qt Wayland backend, or is Cairo the primary (and only) goal for the moment? Given that Qt is fully open source now, some enthusiast could well try and hack up a backend. Or will Qt use Cairo (impossible, IMHO)?

From what I've read, I think the aim is for Qt and GTK and anything else useful to be able to run on Wayland, but it will take a lot of work and at the moment there just isn't anyone working on it. There was a Clutter backend developed, I'm not sure what the status of that is.

Comment

So what about X11? I did read Gallium(3D or now's more than just 3D?) is going to implement X11 in it as well OpenGL, OpenVG and other undergoing implementations.

Does this mean a giant buch of LOC (lines of code) aka Xorg can be replaced someday by a much tinier and compact codebase but equivalent in the important functionality (KISS principle)? So we don't need to wait for endless delays and tons of overbloated software, instead using just the kernel and OS resources for controlling and using the hardware.

So Wayland will become part of a brilliant future of freedom and innovation in the FOSS graphics world or just a funny gimmick like Compiz?

If Wayland implements Qt, GTK, WxWidgets and whatever is needed for end user... can be a real replacement of Xorg?

Or maybe Wayland can became the next gen sucessor, and Xorg project adopting the codebase?
Will we go to see a situation similar to Xfree vs Xorg, EGCS vs GCC, Beryl vs Compiz again?

Comment

So what about X11? I did read Gallium(3D or now's more than just 3D?) is going to implement X11 in it

Please no please no please no pl..

The X11 protocol is abysmal for desktop usage and should be retired at the earliest possible opportunity. Get the compiz devs and the gnome-globalmenu devs and the KDE and GNOME people and the folks at Google all in one place and start over.

Comment

So what about X11? I did read Gallium(3D or now's more than just 3D?) is going to implement X11 in it as well OpenGL, OpenVG and other undergoing implementations.

The xorg state tracker will provide EXA and Xv acceleration only.
The is also a generic 2D driver being developed called xf86-video-modesetting which provides a DDX driver that uses KMS for modesetting and uses Gallium3D for acceleration

Does this mean a giant buch of LOC (lines of code) aka Xorg can be replaced someday by a much tinier and compact codebase but equivalent in the important functionality (KISS principle)? So we don't need to wait for endless delays and tons of overbloated software, instead using just the kernel and OS resources for controlling and using the hardware.

Wayland is not a drop-in replacement for X. It doesn't use the same protocol, so all window managers need to be re-written. All toolkits need to be able to use Wayland. All applications that use X libraries need to switch. However, with Wayland, it is possible to run an X-server inside of Wayland for backwards compatibility.

So Wayland will become part of a brilliant future of freedom and innovation in the FOSS graphics world or just a funny gimmick like Compiz?

If Wayland implements Qt, GTK, WxWidgets and whatever is needed for end user... can be a real replacement of Xorg?

Or maybe Wayland can became the next gen sucessor, and Xorg project adopting the codebase?

Wayland is entirely independent of Xorg, and does not use the X protocol, Xorg will never 'adopt' Wayland, but we may eventually see Wayland become the display server, and X only be developed for backwards compatibility with older applications.

Will we go to see a situation similar to Xfree vs Xorg, EGCS vs GCC, Beryl vs Compiz again?

These are entirely different things.
Xorg was a fork off of Xfree86, and became widely used.
Egcs was a fork off of gcc and gcc-derived projects, and became the official gcc.
Beryl was a fork off Compiz, and it merged back together with Compiz.

Wayland is not a fork off of Xorg, it is something different that can run Xorg inside of it.

Comment

The X11 protocol is abysmal for desktop usage and should be retired at the earliest possible opportunity. Get the compiz devs and the gnome-globalmenu devs and the KDE and GNOME people and the folks at Google all in one place and start over.

Well, it's OK. But what about remote desktop? I agree local access must use a lot less bloated way, but what protocol to use for remote graphical access?

Of course, the successor must be as flexible or more like X11 and add features like Xaudio. If the protocol can be more efficient for slow internet connections and avoid the use of NX/FreeNX even better.